Label



T. R. WELCH April 3,1945.

LABEL Filed April 7, 1942 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 3, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- LABEL Thomas R. Welch, Los Angeles, Calif. Application April 7, 1942, Serial No. 438,052

3 Claims.

scribed which is free from certain drawbacks of v the present forms and which affords advantages in use over the present forms.

An object of the invention is to provide a label or tab which, while firmly supported on a backing while in sheet or strip form, may be readily separated from the backing in the form of indi- =yidual labels or tabs.

A further object of the invention is to provide a label or tab printed with indicia arranged to aid in correctly reading said indicia.

A further object of the invention is to provide a label or tab printed with indicia covered with a transparent protecting coating which aids in resisting the detaching of the labels from wear if they are not promptly used or obscuring of the indicia under conditions of hard usage.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a label or tab which may be manufactured in a wide variety of forms, all of which incorporate the advantages of my invention.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a label or tab that is more easily used than the usual form of tab, and thereby saves time and money.

The label or tab unit of my invention may be produced in a Wide variety of forms adapted to specific uses and therefore the embodiments described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing are to be understood to be illustrative only, and not as lirnitative of, the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a fragmentary perspective view showing one form of my invention specifically intended for use in identifying wires or wiring in electrical circuits.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of an alternative form of backing sheet or strip and arrangement of individual strips or tabs.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the component parts of an alternative form of label prior to assembly and cutting and scoring.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a suitable form of cutting tool serving to cut the label or tab strips into a plurality of separate labels or tabs.

The label or tab unit of my invention comprises a backing I of light cardboard or other suitable material, preferably formed as a strip or in a sheet later cut into strips and having preferably a calendered or otherwise formed smooth surface, and a series of tabs 2 supported on said surface and preferably formed by mounting of a relatively pliable strip 3 of somewhat narrower width upon said backing by non-hardening adhesive applied to the back of the strip member and then printing indicia upon the strip 3, after which a cutting operation is performed along the lines 3a which results in a series of separated labels or tabs 4 which may be easily detached one by one from the backing, since the end edge or edges of the labels or tabs are spaced from the edge or edges of the backing strip aiding in guiding the fingernail of a user to raise the edge'of the label, whereupon it may be readily stripped from the smooth surface of the backing strip.

It will be obvious that the backing strip and label strip may be variously arranged to obtain the feature of ease in separation of the labels from the strip, for instance, the backing strip and label strip could be co-extensive and the backing strip edges could be scalloped to facilitate raising of the .labels'from the backing I. This variation is shown in Fig. 2 in which it will be noted that the backing strip l and the strip divided into separate labels 4 are coextensive except for the scalloped edge 8 indicated by dotted outlines in Fig. 2.

The cuts along the lines 3a may partially cause penetration of the backing strip which facilitates dividing the backing and labels mounted thereon if the user does not require the whole strip for the particular job in hand.

The label or tab strip may be divided into individual labels or tabs of any desired width and the face may be left blank to enable a numbering machine to be used to impress any desired type of indicia. The labels may also be made of any desired length and breadth.

Tne labels shown in Fig. 1 are relatively narrow and carry numerals arranged consecutively along the length of the label strip but with a series of similar numerals down the length of each individual label. This arrangement of indicia is commonly used in indicating wires in electrical work. Any other indicia, such as letters of the alphabet, can be course be placed upon the labels, or part numbers, assembly numbers, model numbers, and the like.

The indicia to be placed on the labels are printed after positioning the labels on the backing strip, and I prefer to separate the indicia, nu-

merals, or letters repeated down the length of each label or tab by 'a heavy printed line 5, the indicia numerals or letters being printed close to this line but spaced from the line next above. This not only gives the effect of underscoring the letters or numerals, but serves to clearly distinguish numerals such as 5 and 9 and letters such as M and W.

In manufacturing the label unit of my invention, the backing strip may be first cut to shape from suitable stock, preferably having a smooth surface on one side. The label strip is also out to shape from stock such as a tape furnished with a coating of adhesive on the reverse side. I prefer to print the indicia on the label strip after it has been mounted on the cardboard backing I. When this procedure is followed, the backing I forms a carrying means or supporting means for the relatively flexible label strip, and therefore the printing is facilitated and the combination of elements may be conveniently handled.

After the label strip has been mounted on its backing and before or after printing, it is acted on by a tool furnished with suitably arranged cutting edges. In Fig. 4 this tool is indicated as a back member 6 provided with spaced knives I. The back member 6 may be equally well a rotary element under which the label strip and backing is passed. I prefer to adjust the depth of cut so that while the label strip is completely severed the backing is only partly cut through so that a firm support for the labels is provided which aids in the separation of the labels from the backin but many variations in the procedure are possible to obtain the result of providing a plurality of separate labels on a common backing. For instance, the knife setting could be such as to sever the backing as well as the label strip but leaving the backing solid around the-edges, or to feed severed lengths of label to a backing strip.

It is advantageous to cover the printed face of the labels with a protective coat to aid in preventing wearing of! of the labels or obscuring of the indicia under conditions of unusually severe usage; this wearing off is prevented because the protective coat operates to seal the edges of the labels, thereby preventing drying of the adhesive. To provide for this feature, I may cover the label strip with a protective layer of transparent material such as transparent gummed tape, or spray the face of the label strip with clear airplane dope," before or after dividing the label strip into separate labels.

In the known forms of label of the kind described, the label strip in undivided form-for instance in the form of Scotch tape-has to be stripped from the backing, and sections bearing a consecutive series of numbers, sheared off to form an individual label.

In using my label unit. the individual label is merely stripped off the'backing and applied to the wire or other part to be labelled and because of the light weight of the material used and the clearness of its marking provides a very neat and legible means of identification.

In Fig. 3 I illustrate an alternative form of my invention showing how the label strip may be printed before it is applied to the cardboard backing I. Under these circumstances the label strip may be printed. It may then have an adhesive applied to it, whereafter it may be applied to the backing I. After the label strip has thus been applied to the backing I, it may be cut into strips wtih a tool like that previously referred to.

It will be apparent that I have provided a label of great utility and wide applicability, inexpensive to produce and more easily applied than labels at present in use.

In view of the various forms in which the novel label or my invention may be produced and the various methods of manufacture, it will be realized that the scope of my invention is not limited to the various specific embodiments hereinbefore described and means for manufacturing them, but only as defined by the following claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A wire marking unit for use in distinguishing wires and circuits in electrical wiring, comprising a backing member, a relatively limp and pliable material releasably held on said backing member by a non-hardening adhesive, said backing member being of sufficient hardness and relative stiffness to constitute a working base on which to perform cutting of said material while held thereon, and cuts in said material arranged to provide a plurality of indicia strips in side by side parallel arrangement on said backing member, each of said strips being of a length adequate to wrap around a wire and to accommodate repetitions of indicia disposed lengthwise thereof to aid in reading the indicia when said strips are applied to wires to be identified thereby, any one of said strips being independently and selectively peelable from the backing member without preparatory treatment and being in a condition upon removal from the backing member for immediate and direct adhesion to a wire to be distinguished thereby.

2. A wire marking unit for use in distinguishing wires and circuits in electrical wiring, comprising a backing member, a relatively limp and pliable material releasably held on said backing member by a non-hardening adhesive, said backing member being of sufficient hardness and relative stiffness to constitute a working base on which to perform cutting of said material while held thereon, and cuts in said material arranged to provide a plurality of indicia strips in side by side parallel arrangement on said backing member, each of said strips being of a length adequate to wrap around a wire and to accommodate repetitions of indicia disposed lengthwise thereof to aid in reading the indicia when said strips are applied to wires to be identified thereby, a coating protecting the indicia bearing surfaces of all of said indicia strips, any one of said strips being independently and selectively peelable from the backing member without preparatory treatment and being in a condition upon removal from the backing member for immediate and direct adhesion to a wire to be distinguished thereby.

3. An article marking unit for use in identifying articles comprising a backing member, a relatively limp and pliable material releasably held on said backing member by a non-hardening adhesive, said backing member being of suflicient hardness and relative stiffness to constitute a working base on which to perform cutting of said material while held thereon, and cuts in said material arranged to provide a plurality of indicia strips on said backing member in-side by side relation with parallel abutting edges, said strips being of a length adequate to wrap around the articles to be marked and having marking indicia disposed along substantially their entire length to aid in reading the indicia when said strips are wrapped around the articles, any one of said strips being independently and selectively peelable from said backing member without preparatory treatment and being in a condition upon removal from the backing member for immediate and direct adhesion around an article to be marked.

THOMAS R. WEI-CH. 

